World of Warcraft Subscriber Numbers Fall to 5.5 Million

Activision Blizzard's latest earnings report reveals World of Warcraft subscriber numbers have fallen to 5.5 million, down 100,000 from three months ago. During its call with investors today, Activision Blizzard announced it will no longer report World of Warcraft subscription numbers going forward, but will instead focus on other meaningful metrics. However, it didn't make clear what those metrics will be.

The MMO continues to see the number of players actively paying to play the game fall, though this is to be expected in a period where no new content is arriving ahead of the next expansion. With Blizzcon coming the end of this week, it's likely we'll be getting details on just how much longer the wait for that expansion, Legion, will be.

Exit Theatre Mode

The rest of Blizzard's titles seem to be going from strength-to-strength, however. Diablo III sales have passed the 2 million mark in China, while over 7 million people have registered for the Overwatch beta in countries excluding China. Finally, Hearthstone's "key engagement metrics" saw a 77 percent increase year-on-year, setting a new quarterly record for revenue in the process.